The French presidential elections and legislative elections that followed have revealed a new reality in the history of modern France: the former Gaullist President Jacques Chirac took over power from the Socialist Francois Mitterand. Power stayed with the right in 2007, when President Nicolas Sarkozy took office, and he gave way to the Socialists in 2012. The election of President Francois Holland and his party's obtaining a majority in the General Assembly, by winning 302 seats compared to 206 for the right (The UMP), gives it the chance of carrying out what it promised French voters. The election indicates that many French were voting against Sarkozy first and foremost. A large number of Hollande voters were supporters of the right who disliked Sarkozy's style and his way of dealing with people, and this goes for even those people who were close to him. The Gaullist Chirac said that he would vote for Hollande, who was his Socialist rival in the La Correze region. Chirac's daughter Claude and her husband, according to those close to them, also voted for Hollande. Those who worked with Sarkozy respect his ability to work and his constant dynamism, but did not like him because he was only concerned about himself and his achievements, and his image as the president most able to act and find solutions. Because of Sarkozy's nasty temperament, he insisted on a break with everything that had been done by Chirac. Moreover, some of the French disliked his agitated temperament. In addition to voting against Sarkozy, the French people wanted to change the government and elect the Socialist left, which had remained out of power for a long time; thus, it selected a person such as Hollande, the opposite of Sarkozy, and closest to the Chirac model of dealing with people. On Hollande's first day as president, he went to see the employees at the Presidential Palace to greet them, from the lowest-ranking employees to the top, while his predecessor had known none of them. Certainly, voters were looking for an "ordinary" president, as Hollande described himself. Also, ordinary French citizens have a negative view of wealth and money, which made Hollande promise to impose a tax of 75 percent on anyone making a million euros a year. This would apply to the heads of large firms or executives in successful industrial sectors in France, which made the British prime minister, David Cameron, say that he will roll out the red carpet for those French, who want to move to Britain. In any event, there are many French businessmen who have begun to move elsewhere in the European Union, where the taxes on business and companies are lower than in France. The cost of employment in France is the highest in Europe, and will rise, which will not encourage a limiting of unemployment. Hollande will find, in these difficult economic times, that his promises to impose more taxes on the wealthy, and monitor rents, and his other promises, will not encourage growth and create job opportunities, especially since German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not intend to pump money into France, via European bonds, which Hollande is asking for to spur his country's economic growth, along with the required reforms. If Germany retains this stance, Hollande will find that an austerity policy will turn into hell for the French economy. Hollande is facing various economic and financial difficulties and obstacles, and it is difficult to predict how he will succeed against them. The only thing reassuring voters at present is that they have gotten rid of Sarkozy and his methods, even though his domestic policy, and the person implementing it, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, was on the right track in facing the financial and economic turbulence in Europe. However, Sarkozy hurt the ruling right, and is now in the opposition. This right-wing opposition, which continues to have an impact, with 206 deputies in Parliament, should have a new leadership that focuses on officials with experience and qualifications that would enable them to prepare for a new phase. This includes the former Prime Ministers Fillon and Alain Juppe, and not those who are copies of Sarkozy.
